SI: Decoding Saban's diatribe on oversigning

interesting article on Saban's perspective towards recruiting ... looks like he picked up a few roster management tricks while he was visiting the NFL:


Decoding Nick Saban's defense of oversigning, grayshirting - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

 

i noticed they mentioned the porter incident again, which i take issue with. when porter signed his loi, we were not oversigned. a rule change after national signing day put is over by one and someone had to go. unfortunately for porter, he was the one picked. but there was no choice but to grayshirt someone and it was not an intentional oversigning that happened on nsd. i am still waiting on someone to mention that fact in one of their stories.

as far as cns.... bout time they said something. the number of medical hardships bama has does seem excessive.

 

interesting follow-up article by Scarbinsky:

Scarbinsky: Alabama's don't-tell policy hurts Saban's oversigning defense | al.com

 

Rivals is reporting that Alabama took 21 this year to finish #1 in the land, again. Florida St. grabbed 29 to finish #2.

Nutt is not winning championships so it doesn't matter? Really? With his media attention grabbing thirty something, he more than got the ball rolling.

The SEC started applying the new 28-cap rule last year and it worked so well that Auburn and LSU signed 29 and 32 respectively. That's because the cap can be by-passed by enrolling recruits before and after the date in the rule.

So you're speaking to LSU about Alabama, when both have been given extra attention in numerous articles by the media. As a rule the SEC has been called out as a conference as habitual violators of the spirit of the 85/25 rule. As auburn can attest to, you had better be more specific than a supposed "spirit of the rule" kinda thing if you want to put the brakes on the SEC and that would be including Houston Nutt, even though he doesn't win championships.

 

Tusk, .... humor me for a second. What's your take on the following quote in the article:

 

Humor you? You should still be plenty giddy from the Oregon game. You really want me to read between the lines of a Belichick disciple? I might as well tell you what chizik really knows about camgate. No SEC team should point fingers for emphasis on who has the most imagination on handling annual football attrition. If the ncaa can figure out how to stop multiple coaches from unloading in Limousines at their favorite recruit's school, they will figure this out, if it truly matters. It is the ncaa, hard to say what really matters.

Cadillacattack, what you think?

Andy Staples of SI.com recently added up the numbers and found that over the past 5 years Alabama has signed an average of 26.6 players per class. Those with a higher average over the same period were Troy (32.8) Ole Miss (29) Auburn (28.8) Miss. State (27.6) Kansas State (27.4) Temple (27.2) Southern Miss. (27) Arkansas (26.8) Kentucky (26.8)

 

tusk, even though you conveniently avoided my question .... I'll answer yours in a straightforward manner.

There are two different discussions regarding the practice of oversigning.
There's oversigning based on the recently imposed 25/year limit .... and then there's the discussion regarding oversigning based on the 85 total scholarship limit.

They are two different discussions, even though they are related.

Auburn and other SEC programs indeed have had signing classes well over 25 limit during the "5 years" that you/Staples chose as the reference timeframe. Many of those recruits never qualified or enrolled and didn't affect anything but the signing day numbers, ... and of course, some of those oversignings took place before the rule imposing a limit of 25 signees. ($1 to Houston Nutt)

Saban is oversigning based on the 85 total limit which would require that he manage his roster by cutting players in order to reach the mandated 85 limit. Just like in the pros.

Sometimes, cutting a player is inevitable, as all CFB programs know and understand. One or two players in a season would be typical for the average SEC program .... 8-12 players each season would not be typical.

The fact that Saban limits access to scholarship information that is commonly disclosed by all other member institutions is a clear sign that he understands that the practice of oversigning his roster is a clear-cut, competitive advantage.

Saban exploiting a loophole ..... whoda'thunkit? :huh:

I can see where some would argue that such a practice would be wholly acceptable or unacceptable, depending on which side of the argument you happen to be on. Nevertheless, regardless of which side you support, the information deserves to be public.

 

This discussion seldom gets framed as it should. Most folks can not or will not distinguish between what they are calling ethical and what is considered a competitive advantage. Some continue to evaluate their players to a greater or lesser degree than others. Coach Saban takes the spring game very serious and enjoys a good hard look. hihi The rule is that everyone needs to be at 85 before the season kicks off. All scholarships are renewable once a year. Meaning each player must come in and sign a new LOI before they start the new football season.

If you're worried about Auburn or the SEC not understanding what the fans already know, I wouldn't get too tore up about it. They're better at this then you give them credit. If you're concerned about the big Ten and the Ohio State fan that runs the oversigning web site to fight injustice and all influence of competitive SEC evil, check out TOS, Penn St. and Ill. numbers. They are oversigning.